Restless intolerance of delay or waiting.
Restless intolerance of delay or waiting — irritation at anything that thwarts immediate satisfaction.
The family's negatively valenced “can't-bear-the-wait” word: a restless, often irritated intolerance of delay, set against patience (willingness to endure). It overlaps eagerness in the “anxious to get going” sense but adds aversion and short temper. Unlike suspense (the tension of not knowing an outcome), impatience is chafing at having to wait for a known or expected one; unlike diffuse restlessness, it is aimed at a specific delay.
From Latin in- “not” + patiens “enduring” (from pati “to suffer, endure”). Entered English c. 1200, originally “restlessness under existing conditions.” Literally “not-enduring.”
Stable: the c. 1200 sense “restlessness under existing conditions” maps closely onto today's “intolerance of delay” and “restless eager desire.” Continuous from the Latin “unable to endure.” No reliable recent-generation shift beyond modernized collocations (“impatient consumers”).